New show in the windows

The Uneasy Everyday
by
Nate Petterson

Nate Petterson is a painter, usually.  But last year he spent a semester in the clay studio at University of Minnesota and these bottles emerged...broken, misshapen, sometimes with faces and protruberances.  They are uneasy even as they reflect the everyday experience of a discarded bottle of root beer.

The show will be up through Christmas.  be sure to walk by.

Ophelia as she is changing in the new temporary studio

Ophelia Ascendant

I have rented a storefront on S. Bloomington Avenue for the duration of the renovation through Reader's Art so I can easily continue working on the bodies of work that have been languishing in the on and off work practice that was necessitated by life with a gallery.Each day that I get to work on this project, I come home exhausted after only a few hours of work.  So much looking!

 I try one thing and then another and look at the whole series of 10 drawings to see if they scan, if they tell the story that they have been created to tell.











 Little by little, they accomplish their work.





Each drawing is part of an installation and performance that I expect to present aroun this time next year.  I could do it sooner...except for Reader's Art!

A Long post about Vacations and Bathrooms

Artwork by Dale Kennedy

artwork by Dale Kennedy

Two glorious weeks on Lake Superior!

 I just returned from 2 glorious, restorative weeks on the shores of Lake Superior.  A beautiful surprise  appeared shortly before I packed up to come back to Minneapolis, were 2 beach artworks by Dale Kennedy.

I arrived to a torn -up house.  The Gallery looks like a hazmat site!  Do you remember the scene in the movie ET when they wrapped the house and entered in hazmat suits to try to capture ET?  That's what the gallery/studio looks like! "Why?" you may ask.
Well, the renovation continues.  I am installing a full bathroom on the first floor. It takes away some of  the exhibition space, but will be worth it in the end.

The exhibition/work space!

The front door of the gallery!

The ADA compliant bathroom, framed in.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, more bathroom action.  As you probably know, I live above the gallery. The bathroom upstairs was falling apart...in fact it is a wonder the toilet did not fall through the floor.  But when I got home a few days ago, everything was stripped out of that bathroom  and the fixtures were back ordered!

My personal bathroom as it looks today.
So, in the middle of the night, and all day too, I have to traipse down to the glorious bathroom in the basement.

Basement bathroom

temporary shower

For a day or 2, I showered at friends houses.  Today a temporary, illegal shower was installed for me, next to the washing machine, sharing its water supply.

interesting water supply!
I hear a rumor that I will have a temporary toilet upstairs sometime tomorrow while we await the backordered fixtures!  No more  traipsing to the basement at 2 in the morning!

How much is that doggie in the window?

Kat Corrigan is a superb painter of all things.  She really knows how to throw paint and color around to create works that come alive.  She has just begun 30 dogs in 30 days.  Follow her progress on her blog.

Meanwhile, at the bus stop, a happy group on their way to a Twins game, asked me to take their picture.

Redaer's Art 12: Jamie Weaver

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home


Jamie Weaver

West Virginia in Quilts recalls my childhood memories of growing up in rural Appalachia.  My family has long been involved with folk arts and crafts, and I was encouraged to explore these creative outlets both at home and in school.  Looking back, I realize that much emphasis was placed on West Virginia as a center for Appalachian crafts and tourism, and larger issues affecting the state, like mountaintop removal and rampant meth use, were swept under the rug.  When I was in school, we weren’t taught how to be socially, financially, and environmentally loyal to our state – we were told that to be successful adults, we’d probably have to move out of state.  So, with West Virginia in Quilts, I wanted to use a traditional Appalachian craft, quilting, to bring awareness to more serious issues affecting West Virginia. 

            I chose an accordion fold structure so that the book unfolds and spreads out like a quilt.  The title of the book works on a couple of levels:  It is a glimpse of West Virginia through beautiful quilt patterns, and it is also a state in quilts, or covered from view.  Since the truth rarely remains hidden, I let the ugliness underneath peek through the quilts on the surface; when the quilt unfolds, the whole story is revealed.  The front and back are covered with handmade paper that reminds me of quilt batting.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Jennifer Vignone

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Jennifer Vignone

Fall 2011

Kitakata, Gampi, encaustic, linoleum cut, gold leaf, pencil, original text, ink, nails, wood. 

Following is the text of the book.

"Let me die," he says. 
He is yelling it at Mom,
at the nurse, there in his room, 
at me at the long end of the phone 
and at God -- hovering, 
as he'd like to hover, 
freed from his stagnant frame.
"I'm old and want to die in peace."
All the yelling doesn't seem peaceful 
but I know it is what he wants.

We had to remove the gun and knives 
after we caught him with 
the .22 in his mouth. 
Were his hands too arthritic 
as he fumbled for the trigger? 
Or was he, even then, 
thinking it over?
I wondered what it would have been, 
over the phone, to hear the silence after the blast?

"Why didn't I find you on the floor?"she demanded. 
He had threatened to throw himself 
from the bed in an effort 
to kill himself.

In the delicately gnarled strands 
of their life together, 
they felt out the hereafter. 
Mom negotiated the exit 
as he struggled in his unresponsive shell.

Their conversation was peppered 
with allusions to the great beyond.
Its smell was in the air. 
She said to him, ìI thought you'd 
be more of a man," 
in the way he dealt with age 
and what followed.

I think of the time that I cannot grasp.
And what if I could, 
but grasped the wrong moment?
Mother. Father. A woman and a man, 
in time, and running out of time.

A flicker of light suddenly blinding gold and yellow 
and white in hand-to-hand combat with Darkness. 
A bird wing glide suspends briefly before free-fall.
Are there miracles?

I'd never understood the things 
that seemed so important to him -
ancient not-working timepieces, 
tie clips, old radios that he described 
as brand new, his Hathaway shirts 
with their three-hole buttons - until now. 
These were the things he had to offer 
after so many years. These were his legacy, 
not of typical fortune, but of a life.

I have an image of him in my head 
from a photograph of him
as a young man, before knowing my mother. 
She sits now by his side and holds his hand. 
She dials me with her free hand 
and rasps into the phone. 
He sleeps and when he wakes, he gasps. 
I think he is surprised to find himself still here.

Rich laughter chimed like 
heavy glass but I couldn't tell 
what caused such a sound. 
Spirals held me enthralled, 
rapt, terrified. 
I wandered about, 
hoping not to burst, 
but not afraid to die.

Will I, in my final moment,
hear my own thud? 

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home

March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Judith Strom

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home  

Judith Strom- This book is an exploration of our acreage here in Montana.  All the materials for book except the thread for binding & stitching and the computer inks came from our property as did the images.  The paper is handmade from yucca.

As with most of my work this piece grows out of my love of the natural world and most especially the beauty of our home here in Montana.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012